GOP distortions: Still spreading lies about reform

January 9, 2011|Stephen Goldstein, Columnist

Happy New Year, compliments of the Obama/Democratic health-system reform law. In the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath, it not only does no harm, it's doing major good. Year by year, as new provisions of the law roll out, the public will reject the lies and deceptions of the law's Republican/tea party and Fox not-News opponents and relish its plusses.

Under the law, in 2010, seniors received a rebate of $250 to offset the cost of prescription drugs if they reached the Part D coverage gap, the first of yearly reductions until the gap is eliminated. People with pre-existing conditions, uninsured for at least six months, could obtain insurance. Some small businesses and nonprofits became eligible for a tax credit to help offset their health-coverage cost. Young adults could remain on their parents' health-care policy until they turned 26.

In addition, coverage for early retirees became available. Insurance companies could no longer place lifetime limits on the dollar value of coverage, rescind coverage except in cases of fraud, or deny children coverage based upon pre-existing conditions.

As of Jan. 1, the law reigns in excessive insurance company profits. Plans must spend most of your premium dollars on clinical services, quality and other costs — no less than 85 percent for large group plans and 80 percent for individual and small group markets. If they spend less, they'll have to rebate the difference to consumers. There's more money-saving for seniors who have reached the Medicare Part D prescription-coverage gap. Traditional Medicare beneficiaries can get free flu shots and screenings (for diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, etc.).

The Medicare deductible for colorectal cancer screening has been eliminated. Funding is available to plan for exchanges, which help individuals and small employers buy insurance. Small employers that establish wellness programs are now eligible for federal grants for up to five years.

Read all 25 provisions that went into effect in 2010, the 21 added as of Jan. 1, as well as the yearly roll-out of others through 2018 on the website of the Kaiser Family Foundation, healthre form.kff.org/timeline.aspx.

Opponents of the law tried to turn the public against it with inflammatory catch-phrases ("death panels") and outright lies ("it's socialism," "a government takeover"). But more and more people now realize its provisions are long-overdue consumer protections and improvements to coverage and quality of care.

Even so, Republicans in Washington, D.C. and Tallahassee want to take away all your benefits under the federal law. Former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum led a group of states in a lawsuit to declare the legislation unconstitutional. Congressional Republicans vow to "kill the bill," along with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the state Legislature.

But opponents of the health reform legislation have not offered credible alternatives to it, except to invoke their tired refrain that "market principles" are the proper solution — the same market principles that caused our broken health-care system.

What can I tell you? They're Republicans: They try to make reality fit their small-minded, elitist, mean-spirited, failed economic ideology in spite of facts. The bottom line for them is always the bottom line, how much they can rake in at the public expense.

As a result of the anti-health-care initiative, the tea party emerged and helped sweep Republicans into office nationwide and in Florida.

Ask Congressional Republicans, heady with victory, what specific plan they propose to replace the health-reform law. The same goes for our new governor, a former health-care executive, and our overwhelmingly Republican Legislature. It's one thing to carp, quite another to come up with solutions.

The Republican/tea party already violated the Hippocratic Oath by trying to do harm in keeping the federal bill from becoming law and challenging it since it has been in effect. Don't let them do more damage by killing the bill entirely and taking away your benefits, or, someday soon, you'll again be at the mercy of insurance companies — and have only yourself to blame.